Clipmarks | Congress Clips

545 People

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 23:10:30 GMT

clipped by: mklosinski
clipper's remarks: Leave no incumbent in office.

Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them.

One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one president and nine Supreme Court justices - 545 human beings out of the 300 million - are directly, legally, morally and individually responsible for the
domestic problems that plague this country.

Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what they did is not their fault. They cooperate in this common con regardless of party.

What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive amount of gall.

It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300 million can not
replace 545 people who stand convicted -- by present facts - of
incompetence and irresponsibility.

I can't think of a single domestic problem that is not traceable
directly to those 545 people.

We should vote all of them out of office and clean up their mess!

Tags: congress

Sep 1, 2008: Labor / Labour Day (USA, Canada)

Sat, 30 Aug 2008 14:17:43 GMT

clipped by: egsnyder
clipper's remarks: USA
On June 29, 1894, the U.S. Congress voted Labor Day as a National Holiday to honor working people's contribution of labour. The day is celebrated with parades and speeches.

CANADA
Labour Day has been celebrated on the first Monday in September in Canada since the 1880s. The origins of Labour Day in Canada can be traced back to April 14, 1872 when a parade was staged in support of the Toronto Typographical Union's strike for a 58-hour work-week.[2] The Toronto Trades Assembly (TTA) called its 27 unions to demonstrate in support of the Typographical Union who had been on strike since March 25.[2] George Brown, Canadian politician and editor of the Toronto Globe hit back at his striking employees, pressing police to charge the Typographical Union with "conspiracy."[2] Although the laws criminalizing union activity were outdated and had already been abolished in Great Britain, they were still on books in Canada and police arrested 24 leaders of the Typographical Union. Labour lea

Clip Source: multiculturalcalendar.com

Labour Day

On June 29, 1894, the U.S. Congress voted Labour Day as a National Holiday to honour working people's contribution of labour. The day is celebrated with parades and speeches.

Labour Day
Canada

Labour Day

On June 29, 1894, the U.S. Congress voted Labour Day as a National Holiday to honour working people's contribution of labour. The day is celebrated with parades and speeches.

, USA

Ramadan Begins (thru Sept 19)

This is the holiest period in the Islamic Year and begins at the sighting of the new moon. It commemorates the period during which Prophet Mohammad received divine revelations. Observing Muslims fast between the hours of sunrise and sunset during the entire month, read the Qu'ran and worship in the mosque or at home.

Ramadan Begins (thru Sept 19)
Islam

Parkash

First Parkash commemorates the installation of the Adi Granth, The Sikh Scriptures` first edition, in the Golden Temple by the fifth Guru, Arjan Dev, in 1604 CE.

Parkash
Sikh

American People are More and More Afraid of Their Government

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 02:03:00 GMT

clipped by: klippety
clipper's remarks: Too long have Americans been silenced and intimidated. America is one of the very few democracies where the people are afraid of their government and not the way it should be, whereby the Government should be afraid of its people.

Clip Source: www.commondreams.org

The Land of the Silent and the Home of the Fearful

I was a speaker last night at an anti-war event sponsored by the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Monmouth County, Progressive Democrats of America and Democrats For America in Lincroft, NJ, near the shore. It was a great group of activist Americans who want to see this country end the Iraq War, turn away from war as a primary instrument of policy, and start dealing with the pressing human needs of the country and the world.

"I want to get involved in writing emails to members of Congress urging them to cut off funding for the war and other things, but if I do that won't I end up getting put on a "watch list'" or something?"

I told her the short answer was yes,

n George Bush's and Dick Cheney's America, no one is safe from such spying, and even from harassment

witness Tom Feeley, the man behind the website Information Clearing House, who had armed men invade his house at night and threaten his wife

Pelosi's Shameful Record of Voting Against Military

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 01:32:37 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: Despite the calls for improved military absentee voting procedures by the people affected most, not a single Democrat crossed the aisle to co-sponsor a bill introduced by Rep. Roy Blunt that would have created a clearer path to having absentee military ballots counted in the 2008 election and beyond.

Democrats, led by Speaker Pelosi, ultimately killed efforts to improve GI suffrage instead of working to extend the most basic democratic right to the men and women serving our country overseas. America is not fooled by Pelosi's empty words.

Retired U.S. Marine Corps Capt. Charles Henry wrote in the July issue of the U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings: 'While virtually everyone involved...seems to agree that military people deserve at least equal opportunity when it comes to having their votes counted, indications are that in November 2008, many thousands of service members who try to vote will do so in vain.' (Washington Post, 7/24/08)

Clip Source: blog.nrcc.org

Last night, Speaker Nancy Pelosi took the podium and shamelessly pandered to members and veterans of America's military with empty lines intended to trick the American people into believing that the Democrat-controlled Congress might have accomplished something worthwhile over the course of the last two years. Unsurprisingly, Pelosi's words rang hollow, which is to be expected from the leader of the most unpopular Congress in the nation's history. Her tepid support for the military in last night's speech can't hide the Democrat majority's shameful record of voting against military members and veterans.

Though Pelosi would like veterans to think that, despite her previous record, she is now a great supporter of the American military, she refused to support a June 2008 bill that would have made overseas absentee voting easier for military members. According to a report in the Washington Post:

Tags: pelosi, u.s.troops, absentee voting, roy blunt's bill

At the DNC Convention, Sixties Radicals Are Going to "Save the World", Again!

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 06:18:59 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: for America will be best achieved through policies of generosity and caring toward the rest of the world.” All America has to do is dedicate “1%-2% of the GDP each year for the next 20 years toward once and for all eliminating domestic and global poverty, homelessness, hunger, inadequate education, inadequate health care, and repairing the environment of the planet.”

Once and for all? And to think no one had figured out sooner that we could merely legislate the human condition out of existence. Of course, collecting the money is only half the battle. Once we confiscate the necessary funds, according to the NSP’s helpful 32-page booklet on the Global Marshall Plan, all we have to do is “create an international, unbiased, nongovernmental agency for receiving the funds . . . and distributing them in a way that is environmentally sensitive, respectful of native cultures, safeguarded against corruption [...]

Clip Source: article.nationalreview.com

True to form, the event began with bad folk music followed by a prayer. Not just any prayer, but a prayer by John Dear. According to his official bio, the Roman Catholic priest has been arrested 75 times “because he so fervently believes in peace.”

“Take a deep breath and breathe in that holy spirit of peace . . .

Help us end poverty and starvation and relieveable [sic] disease and end the war in Iraq and Afghanistan and Palestine and all of our wars and abolish the death penalty and torture and all our nuclear weapons. And help us enact a Global Marshall Plan to feed the world’s poor and justice and peace to all our sisters and brothers.”

While the “spiritual progressives” gathered here in Denver for DNC convention are every bit as spacey their name suggests, their “Global Marshall Plan” is for real. The Global Marshall Plan — a.k.a. House Resolution 1078 — has 20 Democratic co-sponsors in Congress.

According to Rep. Keith Ellison, “House Resolution 1078 recognizes that lasting security

Tags: dnc, global poverty, global marshall plan, h.r.1078, 1%-2% of the u.s. gdp, 20 years, rep. keith ellison, 20 democratic co-sponsors in congress

Democrats have done what in 2 years?

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 19:00:06 GMT

clipped by: The REAL Napster
clipper's remarks: They can lambast all they want about the 'past 8 years' Truth be told the Democrats have effective control of the house and senate as well as a majority of the governorships in the U.S. since November, 2006. We already know that the 'Speaker of the House' is a sad joke. And Congress actually has as low (if not lower) approval rating than the current president. So, I ask- democrats already have control, now what have you done with it? Nothing. Same as usual.

Clip Source: en.wikipedia.org

The 2006 United States midterm elections were held on Tuesday, November 7, 2006. All United States House of Representatives seats and one third of the United States Senate seats were contested in this election, as well as 36 state governorships, many state legislatures, four territorial legislatures and many state and local races. The election resulted in a sweeping victory for the Democratic Party which captured the House of Representatives, the Senate, and a majority of governorships and state legislatures from the Republican Party.

The Democratic Party won a majority of the state governorships^[3] and the U.S. House and Senate seats each for the first time since 1994, an election-year commonly known as the "Republican Revolution." For the first time in the history of the United States, no Republican captured any House, Senate, or Gubernatorial seat previously held by a Democrat.^[4]

Tags: 2006 general elections, democrats, republicans

States rush to dump touch-screen voting systems

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 14:00:09 GMT

clipped by: dewitte

Clip Source: arstechnica.com

It's a good time to pick up an electronic voting machine on the cheap—provided you're not a stickler for things like "accuracy" or "security." States are scrapping tens of thousands of pricey touchscreen systems in response to mounting concerns about the machines' reliability.

After the butterfly ballot debacle of the 2000 presidential election, in which scores of elderly Floridians revealed a surprising fondness for Pat Buchanan, electronic voting was touted as the way to avoid any such fiasco in the future. Congress passed the Help America Vote Act of 2002, which allocated some $3 billion in federal grants to help states upgrade their voting equipment—$2 billion of which had been spent by the end of 2007.

Now, however, many of those states—including Alaska, California, Florida, Iowa, Maryland, Tennessee, and New Mexico—are ditching touchscreen kiosks with price tags as high as $5,000 each in favor of paper ballots.

Tags: voting, technology

We force our service men and women to stay past their contractual end dates

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 23:25:09 GMT

clipped by: Ataxia13
clipper's remarks: If we use the stop-loss program at what point do we actually have an 'all volunteer military?

Clip Source: blog.cleveland.com

Wooster soldier involuntarily kept in Army under its controversial 'stop-loss' program

Although his enlistment was supposed to end in February, the 22-year-old former All-Ohio defensive lineman instead became one of 120,000 soldiers since 2001 to be involuntarily kept in the Army through a controversial program called "stop-loss." He's rooting for Congress to pass legislation that would pay him extra for each month he's forced to remain in the military.

Tags: military, stop-loss, bush administration

The key to oil independence is a new electrical grid

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 14:17:49 GMT

clipped by: egoldstein
clipper's remarks: It seems that with alternative sources of energy, such as wind and solar, the United States has the potential means to substantially reduce our dependence on oil - especially once plug-in cars are on the market.

But until we substantially upgrade our nation's electrical grid with modern technology that will enable the energy created by these sources to be transmitted intelligently around the county, their impact will be limited.

It's going to take a greater commitment from Congress to jump start this. Making it happen will provide a huge boost to our economy, environment and political leverage with the Middle East, Russia, Venezuela and more.

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

The dirty secret of clean energy is that while generating it is getting easier, moving it to market is not.

The grid today, according to experts, is a system conceived 100 years ago to let utilities prop each other up, reducing blackouts and sharing power in small regions. It resembles a network of streets, avenues and country roads.

“We need an interstate transmission superhighway system,” said Suedeen G. Kelly, a member of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

“The windiest sites have not been built, because there is no way to move that electricity from there to the load centers,” he said.

Tags: alternative energy, grid, electricity, wind, solar

Vets on the Ground at the DNC and "Operation First Casualty"

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 15:44:48 GMT

clipped by: cptenaud
clipper's remarks: The rest of this story and links will follow.

Three comments by the troops.

Clip Source: www.vetvoice.com

by: Neil Riley

Wed Aug 27

It's good to see Veterans are in Denver bringing attention back to the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The AP doesn't really go into much detail but they offer some analysis:

The Iraq veterans in Denver say they want to keep the war and veterans' issues in the public spotlight. They are doing that by soliciting donations at fundraisers for vets running for Congress, marching in demonstrations and throwing a concert Wednesday, headlined by Rage Against the Machine, for 8,000 people.
........
The public's welcoming of this generation of veterans had led to a different approach by young veterans who challenge the system, said Don Goldstein, a professor of public and international affairs at the University of Pittsburgh. Also, he said, the Internet has made communication easier.
"They are quieter, more organized now than ever before," Goldstein said.

[Video]

Tags: dnc, iraq, afghanistan

Make Congress Read Their Bills Before Voting On Them

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 05:39:58 GMT

clipped by: BartendingBear
clipper's remarks: America was founded on the slogan, “No taxation without representation.” A similar slogan applies to this situation: “No LEGISLATION without representation.”

Clip Source: www.downsizedc.org

Help us pass the
“Read the Bills Act” (RTBA)

Part 1: What RTBA does and why

Most Congressmen are lawyers, and many others are businessmen. They know what “fiduciary responsibility” is. For Members of Congress, fiduciary responsibility means reading each word of every bill before they vote.

But Congress has not met this duty for a long time. Instead . . .

They carelessly pass mammoth bills that none of them have read. Sometimes printed copies aren't even available when they vote!

Often no one knows what these bills contain, or what they really do, or what they will really cost.

Additions and deletions are made at the last minute, in secrecy.

And votes are held with little debate or public notice.

We hold this truth to be self-evident, that those in Congress who vote on legislation they have not read, have not represented their constituents. They have misrepresented them.

To this end we have created the “Read the Bills Act (RTBA).” RTBA requires that . . .

Tags: does, common, sense, have, a, chance, ?

Bushco wrote war pitch BEFORE knowing intel

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 04:39:28 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: National Security Archive reports the Bush-Cheney White paper "justifying" the invasion was developed a full three months in advance of the intelligence data and analysis that should have served as the basis for that justification; then doctored NIE report to agree with their own White Paper. Only imminent threat mentioned was the possibility of Iraqi terrorism in USA if Saddam regime was threatened - but Bushco deleted it before giving the report to Congress.

Clip Source: www.opednews.com

the Bush-Cheney White paper "justifying" the invasion was developed a full three months in advance of the intelligence data and analysis that should have served as the basis for that justification. The National Security Archive summed it up succinctly:

"The U.S. intelligence community buckled sooner in 2002 than previously reported to Bush administration pressure for data justifying an invasion of Iraq,

"The documents suggest that the public relations push for war came before the intelligence analysis, which then conformed to public positions taken by Pentagon and White House officials. For example, a July 2002 draft of the "White Paper" ultimately issued by the CIA in October 2002 actually pre-dated the National Intelligence Estimate that the paper purportedly summarized, but which Congress did not insist on until September 2002." National Security Archive in "Scoop' Independent News, August 24, 2008.

4.0 million Iraqis are "displaced

ten percent of Iraq

dead or injured

5.0 million

orphan

Tags: bush, war, iraq

"You Furnish the Pictures and I'll Furnish the War"

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 18:12:09 GMT

clipped by: sahara
clipper's remarks: Both repeatedly called for armed intervention, then later, all-out war.
The atrocities General Weyler committed in Cuba were massively hyped and sensationalized in the US newspapers, then engaged in a practice known as "yellow journalism". The two kingpins of the press at the time were William R. Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer, who were embroiled in a vicious circulation war, in which Hearst even "stole" Pulitzer's most popular writers by convincing them to defect through promises of money and positions. Hearst's major publication was the New York Journal and Pulitzer's publication was the New York World. In order to grow their circulations, both men were willing to go so far as to make up stories.
The Spanish-American War was not the height of Hearst's power. Afterwards, he continued to grow his media empire for several decades, and even successfully ran for a seat in Congress. Hearst was the rough basis for the wealthy journalist-baron in Orson Welles' Citizen Kane.

Clip Source: www.u-s-history.com

"Yellow press" was a term applied to the popular, frankly imperialistic newspapers of New York City, circa 1890s. Today, "yellow journalism" refers to lurid publications that emphasize the sensational side of news stories

In the 1890s, a bitter circulation war erupted between Joseph Pulitzer's New York World and William Randolph Hearst's New York Journal. In an spiraling contest of outrageous journalism, the newspapers used all means to attract readers—heavy doses of murder and sex, banner headlines and colored supplements

Pulitzer introduced the first comic strip, The Yellow Kid, drawn by Richard Outcault. The character became immensely popular and inspired the name for the sensationalist press of the era

Both Hearst and Pulitzer played leading roles in molding American public opinion about the conflict between Spain and its Cuban colony

The papers reported Spanish atrocities in exaggerated detail, but neglected to mention Cuban misdeeds

Tags: newspapers, media, msm, propaganda

The Freedom Index

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 19:53:13 GMT

clipped by: sahara
clipper's remarks: To learn how any representative or senator voted on the key measures described herein, look him or her up in the vote charts. The scores are derived by dividing a congressman’s constitutional votes (pluses) by the total number he cast (pluses and minuses) and multiplying by 100.

Clip Source: www.thenewamerican.com

The Freedom Index: A Congressional Scorecard Based on the U.S. Constitution

About This Index

“The Freedom Index: A Congressional Scorecard Based on the U.S. Constitution” rates congressmen based on their adherence to constitutional principles of limited government, fiscal responsibility, national sovereignty, and a traditional foreign policy of avoiding foreign entanglements

The average House score for this index (votes 21-30) is 31 percent; the average Senate score is 26 percent

Ten House members scored a perfect 100 percent: John Shadegg (R-Ariz.), Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), Ed Royce (R-Calif.), Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.), John Campbell (R-Calif.), Thomas Tancredo (R-Colo.), Lynn Westmoreland (R-Ga.), Tom Price (R-Ga.), Paul Broun (R-Ga.), and Ron Paul (R-Texas)

The top scorer in the Senate was Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) with a score of 80 percent

For congressional contact information and a series of pre-written letters to Congress on some key issues go to www.capwiz.com/jbs/home

Tags: congress, government, freedom

Biden's tech voting record

Sun, 24 Aug 2008 22:31:51 GMT

clipped by: n2sooners

Clip Source: gizmodo.com

CNet's Declan McCullagh wrote up an informative history of Joe Biden's tech-related voting record

He asked Congress to spend $1 billion to monitor peer-to-peer activity.

Two Biden bills have been explicitly anti-encryption, because you know, encryption makes it hard for the FBI to read people's e-mails

He has expressed support for internet taxes and internet filtering in schools and libraries

iden sponsored a bill that would restrict recording of songs from satellite and net radio, and another one that would make it a felony to "trick" a computer into playing back unauthorized songs or running bootlegged videogames.

Biden was one of just four senators invited to attend a celebration of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act hosted by the MPAA's Jack Valenti and the RIAA's Hillary Rosen

When he was asked in 2006 about proposing net-neutrality laws, he said there was no need,

Tags: biden, internet, file sharing, music, politics, election